House Committee Vows to Order Arrest of Erring Heads of MDAs, Slams NIS, Others

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the alleged job racketeering and mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) by federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) has threatened to invoke the provisions of the constitution to compel heads of MDAs to appear before it.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, accused the heads of MDAs of frustrating the work of the committee aimed at correcting imbalances in the public service of the federation.
Gagdi said the committee would not accept deliberate attempts by the affected MDAs to frustrate the noble assignment of the panel, describing the refusal to appear as deliberate.
Gagdi said the House of Representatives would not hesitate to invoke its legislative powers to ensure that the affected MDAs comply with the invitations of the committee.

He said invitation/hearing notices were sent to their offices to cause an appearance.
“However, to the committee’s utmost dismay, its request was disregarded. This action is considered as contempt of the legislature.
“Consequently and pursuant to Sections 62, 88 and 89 (1){a}{b}{c} of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), as well as the House Standing Order 18A, Rule 9, the following MDAs  are required to comply with the publication and forward the information listed (i – x) below in a Flash Drive One (1) soft copy (Excel Format) and Forty (40) hard copies typed double spaced, and addressed to the Chairman should be submitted to Suite 0.01 or Conference Room – 034 Ground Floor New Building, House of Representatives, National Assembly Complex, Abuja and cause appearance as scheduled below.”
He said the affected ministries which details have already been published in the national dailies are to unfailingly appear before the committee within the stipulated scheduled dates.

He said: “Please note that failure to comply with the above request/invitation, the Committee will invoke the provisions of Section 89(1, d)(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), and Section 4 of the Legislative Houses (Powers & Privileges) Act, to compel compliance.”
Meanwhile, the committee also accused the management of the National Institute for Sports (NIS) and the National Office for Technology Innovation and Acquisition of lopsided appointment of personnel to the disadvantage of other states.

Gagdi said at the resumed hearing of the committee that the recruitment carried out by the two agencies did not reflect federal character.

The director general of NIS, Prof. Olawale Moronkola had told the committee that they got approval to employ 22 staff during their last recruitment exercise.

But Gagdi questioned why six of the 22 staff employed were from Moronkola’s home state of Oyo when the positions were supposed to have been spread to the 36 states and the FCT, or shared to the six geopolitical zones.

The committee, however, asked the institute to provide a detailed analysis of the state representation of workers in the institute and how it plans to address the imbalance in employment.

 However, the Director general of the National Institute of Technology Acquisition and Innovation, Dr. Danazunmi Ibrahim told the committee that the institute has already put in place plans to address the imbalance in its employment.

He said the Federal Character Commission has already drawn its attention to the imbalance in its staff representation and asked them to correct it.